


Promise

by TheManyFacesofJester



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManyFacesofJester/pseuds/TheManyFacesofJester
Summary: A brief moment in time from the younger years of the Culper Ring





	Promise

“You’re cheating!” Ben shouted.

“It’s not cheating if you made up the game!” Abe retorted. This earned him a shove from Ben that sent the other boy backwards, much to the delight of Anna, who’d also been tagged out by Abe already.

“Sam, Ben pushed me!” Abe whined in the general direction of Ben’s older brother. Sam and Caleb were both leaning against opposite sides of the same tree, obviously not watching their charges as they both missed Ben’s assault on Abe.

“Well push him back!” Caleb called and Sam whacked him lightly on the arm.

“No, do not! Do not-” Sam started, but Abe had already gotten up and pushed Ben in return. “Do you ever think before you speak?” Sam said to Caleb as they both went over to break up the fight that had started between the two seven year olds. Sam grabbed Ben while Caleb took hold of Abe.

“What happened?” Sam asked, turning Ben to face him and kneeling down to brush dirt off the smaller boy.

“He cheated. He called for a time out then came up to me and started the game again and tagged me out,” Ben explained as though it was the most important thing in the world.

“Ben, it’s just a game,” Sam sighed.

“And technically that’s not cheating,” Caleb added with a laugh and Sam pulled a face. “It isn’t! You should have known better than to let him get that close!”

“Yeah!” Abe shouted. “You should know better!”

“Alright, calm down tiger,” Caleb said as he struggled to pull the boy back to him after he lunged. “It’s just tag.”

“Yes, thank you,” Sam added. “It’s just a game, Ben. You can’t be hitting people over something silly like that.”

“I have to be tougher or people are gonna walk all over me,” Ben replied, which Sam didn’t like hearing at all.

“Who told you that?”

“Caleb,” Ben said and Sam shot Caleb another look.

“Oh, yeah, I did say that,” Caleb said, but Sam didn’t look amused.

“Why?” Sam asked, exasperated.

“He was getting picked on by some kids the other day and he didn’t stand his ground. I told him-”

“-it’s his fault they’re picking on him?” Sam finished for him.

“No, just that he needed to fight back if he wanted it to stop.”

“Or tell me, maybe?” Sam suggested, then sighed and returned to facing Ben, whose eyes looked larger than normal as he tried to figure out what the older boys were talking about. “Ben, you’re fine exactly as you are, OK. You don’t need to hurt other people to fix your problems, you just tell me and I’ll deal with it.”

“What if you’re not there?”

“I’m always gonna be there for you, Ben.”

“Promise?” Ben said, holding out his pinky finger.

“Promise,” Sam said, taking his brother’s pinky in his hand. Ben smiled and returned to playing with his friends, his dispute with Abe forgotten already. Standing up to his full height, Sam quirked his eyebrow at Caleb, who gave a shrug in response. There were worse things he could have done, Sam supposed. And he usually did a good job watching Ben, so he had to cut him some slack. Still, a little extra protection didn’t hurt, so Sam held out his pinky to Caleb.

“I might not always be able to be there for Ben, no matter what I told him,” he said. “Promise me you’ll always look after him.”

Caleb laughed and linked pinkies as a scream came from Abe about a worm Anna had thrown at him.

“As long as you promise to never be away for too long.”

Those were terms Sam could agree to. He had no intentions of going anywhere without the two of them for a long time.


End file.
